The Worthington advance. [volume] (Worthington, Minn.) 1874-1908, 1887-10-06
WHERE THE MONKEYS GO.

nsseuus "a shsws Take the Hest Of The.-
Few for Pets.
From N. Y. Sun.
Charles Reiche, who does as much
monkey business as any one in the
country except the tariff reformers,
says:
Most of them 60 to shows and
museums and for other exhibition
purposes. They die off quite fast. but
not so fast, probably, as they are inn
ported, and l suppose the monkey
population of the United States is
constantly increasing. You see. they
are not absorbed into the general
mass as readily as are other sorts OF
immigrants. bring about 1000 OF
them to New York every year, and ]
suppose 5000 or 3, 500 come to this
city annually. OF mine the greater
part are East Indian and African
monkeys, and all these come first to
Europe and we import them from
there. About 700 or 800 q year are
imported directly from Brazil.
''Almost all these monkeys are eth
err the ring-tailed or the Java species.
The organ grinders generally have q
ring-tailed one. They cost about $12
or SIS. They Java monkeys have g
more human look and shorter tail.
They use their arms more in climbing.
They cost about the same as the ring
tailed ones.
1.-The prices of other monkeys are
almost entirely arbitrary. 1t all de-
ponds on the size, age and other quail
ties of each particular monkey, and
the demand there is for it. The prices
run up into the thousands. Chin
panzees are about the most expensive.
Balloons are also expensive. Thelittle
marmosets can be had for Sc and 50
a pair. when they can be had at all.
There is no regular supply OF them.
Sometimes we get dozens OF them at
once. and then there may not be one
for long time.
Monkeys as household pets are
about played out, judging from our
trade. We very rarely sell one except
for exhibition purposes. We used to
sell one now and then to the Italians
to go with their organs, but now that
they are not allowed to use them, We
don't have that trade any longer"
None of the dealers keep many mon
keys in stock. They are not a hardy
animal until they become thoroughly
acclimated, ard the losses through
death if many are kept On hand, de-
stroy the profits o; the business.
Aside from Mr.. Crowley and Miss
Kitty, that was to be his bride, the
most valuable monkeys in the city
now are probably, He and Jess. in the
nursery of Mr.. Reiche's place. What
they are worth now must be consider
able, but it is nothing to the value
that they will attain if the newspa-
pers keep ON giving them free adver~
tisments.
A curious thing about the monkeys
most common in this part of the
world, is that those from Brazil are
entirely different from those from AT.
RIGA and Asia. This difference exists
in all the various species, and accord
ing to fossil experts has existed ever
since the tertiary and other interest
ing geological epochs. If the evidence
OF an eocene jaw bone found in Eng
land and a miocene set OF
t eth found in France, as
compared with an onistitis and a
callithrix primavus found in South
America, is to be believed, Adam
when he first called them monkeys
must have meant one kind of an ami
NAL for the name in Europe, Asia,
and Africa, and another kind for the
name in America. This may have
been because he ran short of names,
or it may have been an oversight on
Adams part. The fact, at any rate,
is that a native monkey in America
is platyrrhini and has broad nose,
with the nostrils on the side, while
monkey native in the rest of the
world Is a catarrhini and
has narrow nose and septum be-
tween the nostrils. Septum is scientif-
ic for a thin membrane. They also
have cheek pouches. which the platyr-
rhini have not. Even without the
pouches, it does seem strange, with
all due respect to Adam, that he
couldn't tell the difference between a
platyrrhini with broad nose and
sidewise nostrils, and q catarrhini
with a narrow n se and septum.